Abstract: This collection includes records of the former pansexual newspaper "Cuir Underground," which covered the queer erotic scene
in the Bay Area from 1994 to 1998. It contains administrative records; correspondence; materials related to magazine production,
distribution and publicity; materials related to Venus Infers and Black Mass; and articles and ephemera collected by the staff.

Language of Material: English

Access

Collection is open for research, with the exception of staff, volunteer and subscription lists. Please contact the managing
archivist for more information.
Funding for processing this collection was provided by the National
Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

According to their “Mission Statement/Plan,” Cuir Underground was a free, monthly, pansexual leather calendar and newspaper.
Its primary purpose was to unite and inform the varieties of SM communities in the greater Bay Area; its secondary purpose
was to make money and support perverts doing pervert-related work. The paper debuted at the Folsom Street Fair in September
of 1994. It covered the pansexual erotic scene in the Bay Area from 1994-1998. As used by the paper, “pansexual” was a term
that embraced a wide range of transgressive sexualities and gender arrangements, including people who identify as lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgendered, leather, practitioners of SM and other kinkiness of all sorts.

Scope and Content of Collection

This collection includes records of the former pansexual newspaper "Cuir Underground," which covered the queer erotic scene
in the Bay Area from 1994 to 1998. Pansexual, as used in "Cuir Underground," is a term that signifies an embracing of a wide
range of transgresive sexualities and gender arrangements, including people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered,
leather, practitioners of SM and other kinkiness of all sorts. The collection includes administrative records; correspondence;
materials related to magazine production, distribution and publicity; materials related to Venus Infers and Black Mass; and
articles and ephemera collected by the staff. There are also photocopies of photo art and erotic illustrations and comics.